“Beats me how nobody was killed,” said John Malster, relief fireman on the Auckland tug, William C. Daldy, today. ”You could call it a saga of good luck.” Townas Bray, a general hand on a Harbour Board floating crane. is shown working away with a crowbar on the buckled bow of the tug, today. The damage may take four to five weeks to repair. Mr Malster was one of two crewmen taken to Auckland Hospital on Saturday after the tug and the ship she was berthing, the Fremantle Star collided. The other man, who was relief engineer Barry Watkins. Both were later allowed to go home.

The collision put a sizeable dent in the 8400-ton Fremantle Star and has put the tug out of action possibly for four or five weeks, Mr Malster had the luckiest escape.
After stoking the boilers he had just gone on deck for a breath of fresh air when the accident happened. If I’d stayed down there a minute longer, I’d have had one of the fire doors open, and I’d have been swamped in red hot clinker,” he said. What amazed crew members, is that none of the steam pipes was fractured by the force of the collision.
This would have scalded to death anybody within the “line of fire.” As it is, the 40-year-old steam tug – the Auckland Harbour Board’s oldest – looked a mess today.
The force of a collision had pushed the three ton rope fender on the bow deep into the hull, buckling plates up to 4 feet back from the bow. Down in the engine room the two big boilers – about 15 tons each – had moved and are believed to have cracked their mountings.
The stokehold was waist deep in half-burnt coal which travelled furiously from the furnaces, just after the collision. The first thought that the crew was to get the fires out as quickly as possible to avoid any danger of a boiler explosion. An engine room telegraph failure caused the collision. The ship’s master, Captain Albert Moku Moku could only watch helplessly as the tug ploughed towards the freighter at an estimated 5 knots.
Mr Malster said he had just walked onto the for’ard deck when he saw the collision looming. ” I ran halfway back towards the stern of the ship – then the bang came. That slammed me onto my back, and I tumbled all the way back to the for’ard deck again,” he said.
Auckland Harbour Master Captain C. R. Blair said some idea as to the extent of the damage should be known later today after an inspection by surveyors. It is understood that the board is prepared to hire a tug from the Northland Harbour Board if an emergency arises while the William C. Daldy is out of action. With the tug Aucklander out of action for maintenance, the port is left with only two other tugs.

‘William C Daldy’ Telegraph Failure report Page 1
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15-Feb-75

‘William C Daldy’ Telegraph Failure report Page 2
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15-Feb-75

‘William C Daldy’ and ‘Fremantle Star’ Collision Report Page 1
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18-Feb-75

‘William C Daldy’ and ‘Fremantle Star’ Collision Report Page 2
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18-Feb-75

‘William C Daldy’ – Accident repair estimate Page 1
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26-Feb-75

‘William C Daldy’ – Accident repair estimate Page 2
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26-Feb-75

• Accident Report 1
• Accident Report 2
• Accident Report 3
• Accident Report 4